12 Things Buyers Won’t Like About Your House

When you’re selling your home, you do everything possible to showcase all the positives — but there are certain things buyers simply won’t like about your house.

Whether it’s a wallpaper-lined dining room, an outdated bathroom, or weird pet smells, home buyers might consider one feature reason enough to pass on an offer.

If you’re ready to put your house on the market, then check out this advice from industry experts regarding the top 12 things would-be buyers prefer to avoid.

“Unless the homebuyer is handy or ready to take on DIY projects, buyers want to move into a home and not have to start a long list of projects,” notes Sara Hopkins, a Midwest-based realtor. “I always remind sellers that kitchens sell houses.”

She says, “You would also be surprised at how easy it is to give your kitchen an updated look. New hardware, paint the cabinets, put in new appliances, and voila — an aesthetically updated kitchen that will help your resale. If you’re going to make a big investment in updates, always start with the kitchen. They are the heart of the house.”

According to Los Angeles realtor Chantay Bridges, buyers might be pet lovers, but not when it comes to their dream home. Keeping several cats, dogs, or other animals in your home can cause a buyer to pause and reconsider making an offer, and for some people, might even be a total deal-breaker.

“I get that you love your pets, and they’re a part of your family, but selling a home with animals is tough,” adds Hopkins. “It’s a big complaint and can be an instant turn off for buyers. If they are opposed to animal smells, they can rule out your home before they’ve even had the chance to walk around and fall in love.”

Realtor Bill Leeper recently showed a house with new granite countertops in the bathroom, but carpet on the floor, and the buyer wasn’t interested. Then, they went to another home with a partially remodeled bathroom, but the sellers left a 1980s shower enclosure with gold trim behind.

In Leeper’s opinion, both homes tried to do a remodel project, but because they didn’t fully complete the job, the value of the work ended up being zero in terms of finding a buyer.

That’s exactly why Renee Greenwell, a realtor in Virginia, advises sellers to go to the professionals for certain remodeling jobs.

“Pay a licensed contractor to do things correctly, not to jerry-rig a solution,” she says. “For example, if you need to replace some damaged tile around the toilet, don’t just put any old thing in—either match the existing tile or redo the floor. No one thinks it looks like a quirky rug. Wainscoting installed correctly is lovely; unfinished edging and angled lines are not.”

Even though location might be what buyers use to find desirable potential homes, this can also backfire, as you ultimately have little control over the size of your yard or the proximity of your house to a traffic-jammed road. Maybe those things were fine in your book, but some people might feel differently, and there’s not much you can do about it.

“No backyard, on a busy road, bad location — these are all traits of your home that you have no control over,” says Hopkins. “But these deal breakers are something buyers know they also can never change in your home. You need to consider what price you need to be at so that potential buyers can now overlook these less than desirable parts of your home.”